A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within, or attached to, a repeating firearm. The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be chambered by the action of the firearm. Most magazines designed for use with a reciprocating bolt firearm utilize a set of feed lips which stops the vertical motion of the cartridges out of the magazine but allows one cartridge at a time to be pushed forward (stripped) out of the feed lips by the firearm's bolt into the chamber.
Some form of spring and follower combination is almost always used to feed cartridges to the lips, which can be located either in the magazine (most removable box magazines) or built into the firearm (fixed box magazines). A box (or “stick”) magazine, the most popular type of magazine in modern rifles and handguns, stores cartridges in a straight or gently curved column, either one above the other or staggered zigzag fashion. As the firearm cycles, cartridges are moved to the top of the magazine by a follower driven by spring compression to either a single feed position or alternating feed positions. In most firearms, the magazine follower engages a slide-stop to hold the slide back and keep the firearm out of battery when the magazine is empty and all rounds have been fired. Box magazines may be integral to the firearm or removable.
A detachable box magazine is a self-contained mechanism capable of being loaded or unloaded while detached from the host firearm. They are inserted into a magazine well in the firearm receiver usually below the action, but occasionally positioned to the side or on top. When the magazine is empty, it can be detached from the firearm and replaced by another full magazine. This significantly speeds the process of reloading, allowing the operator quick access to ammunition. This type of magazine may be straight or curved, the curve being necessary if the rifle uses rimmed ammunition or ammunition with a tapered case.
The SKS is a Soviet semi-automatic carbine chambered for the 7.62×39 mm round, designed in 1943 by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov. The original design of the SKS included an integral 10 box magazine fed from a stripper clip. However, rounds stored in the magazine can be removed by depressing a magazine catch located forward of the trigger guard, which opens the floor of the magazine and enables the rounds inside to fall out. The stripper clip is capable of being reloaded and used multiple times, but was usually discarded in military usage.
The SKS has become a popular civilian firearm, especially in Canada and the United States. Because of the firearm's relatively low cost and widespread availability and usage, the SKS has spawned a growing market for both replacement parts and accessories. Many aftermarket parts are available to modify the carbine, including removable, higher capacity magazines of 30 rounds or more that replace the integral 10-round box magazine. One example of such a magazine is the SKS-A3 40 round magazine manufactured by ProMag Industries of Phoenix, Ariz. The SKS-A3 has a front magazine extension that engages a magazine retainer in the SKS and a rear catch that is engaged by the SKS' magazine catch to releasably attach the magazine.
The disadvantage of all prior art removable SKS magazines is the difficulty of removing them because of the poor ergonomics of the legacy SKS magazine catch. The requirement to pull in the magazine catch, which is located forward of the trigger guard, creates the risk that the user could inadvertently pull the trigger instead of releasing the magazine. The legacy SKS magazine catch is also relatively small and difficult to grasp, and the user is required to use both hands to remove the magazine. While this was not a major issue when the magazine catch was rarely accessed, the design presents a problem when the magazine catch must be routinely used to disengage empty magazines from the SKS. The problem is sufficiently serious that a variety of products have been invented that attempt to make the legacy SKS magazine catch more ergonomic. One such example is the SKS Extended Magazine Catch manufactured by TAPCO of Kennesaw, Ga. The disadvantage of these products is they often make the magazine catch even more closely resemble the trigger, creating even more risk the user could inadvertently pull the trigger instead of releasing the magazine.
An example of a firearm with a more ergonomically favorable magazine release design is the M14 rifle. The M 14 features a rear-facing thumb-actuated magazine release. Not only is the magazine release pushed forward, which makes it unlike the trigger that is pulled rearward, but the magazine can be removed one handedly.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved rifle magazine with release lever actuator that enables one-handed release of the magazine and decreases the risk of an inadvertent trigger pull. In this regard, the various embodiments of the present invention substantially fulfill at least some of these needs. In this respect, the rifle magazine with release lever actuator according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of enabling one-handed release of the magazine and decreasing the risk of an inadvertent trigger pull.